This Nestlé KitKat Heiwa Shuzou Umeshu was released in 2018 as part of the company’s sake-inspired series, following on from 2017’s Masuizumi Japanese Sake, featuring sake from Toyama Prefecture.
This time, the KitKat featured umeshu by the brewery Heiwa Shuzou in Wakayama Prefecture, which is known for producing 40% of the ume in Japan. Heiwa Shuzou’s umeshu uses nanko plums — considered the best on the market for their soft pulp and rich flavour — with the company’s sake as a base. The yuzushu is made by blending the brewery’s signature sake directly into straight yuzu juice and sweetened with honey.
Inside the box, these KitKats are inside packaging that’s been printed to resemble washi to resemble the beautifully wrapped sake bottle on the box, which indicates a premium liquor served on special occasions. Each box contained nine individually packaged mini-bars.
Each individual bar has the Bijofu brand on the front of the packaging.
Each mini-bar is a cream colour and contained 0.2% alcohol, with the umeshu flavouring both the white sandwiching the wafers as well as the enrobing white chocolate.
These KitKat have a slightly effervescent, vibrant sweet-tart aroma of ume that fills the senses after opening the packaging. Upon tasting, the flavour of the ume came through sweet initially before developing with its signature tartness in the body ahead of a combined sweet-tart finish. The notes of the sake persist in the background throughout, coming to prominence in the finish without any bitterness. Overall, these ume sake flavoured KitKats are our favourite of all the sake flavoured KitKats.
This Nestlé KitKat Heiwa Shuzou Umeshu contained 9 mini bars. It was produced in Japan and purchased in Tōkyō, Japan in 2019.